The Carina
by moriartea-anyone
Summary: "Oh, better far to live and die under the brave black flag I fly, than play a sanctimonious part, with a pirate head and a pirate heart. Away to the cheating world go you, Where pirates all are well-to-do; but I'll be true to the song I sing, and live and die a Pirate King." Pirate!Stucky, everybody. Fasten your seat-belts.
1. Chapter 1

The skies were clear and the wind gently pushed the tide along, creating swells on the surface of the perfect water. Beautiful water, so vast and seemingly empty with the promise of discovery. And on that water was a ship; small, but fast; and of greater importance than any could imagine at the time. _The Carina _was gliding along the waves as if it were born to do that and that only. Luck was on the sides of the sailors that day, fantastic luck, luck that generated a feeling of such joy it was intoxicating. It was the type of joy that only a sailor on the ship that was their own could feel.

This is the story of Captain James Buchanan Barnes, and this was his ship.

"Bucky what the hell are you doing up there?" His first mate called, a beautiful girl who had cut her long red hair short so it would not get caught in the rigging. Yes, it was unusual that she was a woman, but Bucky himself could promise you that Natasha was the best first mate there was. Pulling his eyes away from the sea, Bucky looked down from the crow's nest of his beautiful ship and onto Natasha.

"Is that any way to talk to your Captain?" He called back, the grin on his face broadening. Their ship had not yet left the harbor where they had stopped to restock, yet they were to be on their way soon. Sliding down the mast his wooden arm skidded across the pole, making an unpleasant sound. The first mate Natasha was down at the bottom to greet him.

"Oh forgive me, my Captain." She mock bowed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Standing again she affectionately punched him in his good shoulder. "We should be headed out soon."

Bucky had found the orphan Natasha off the coast of Russia, and decided to bring her along with him. Ever since the cold day that they met they had been inseparable. Over the years, with the help of Natasha, he built up a crew of men (and woman) to man _the Carina _with him.

Their occupation: Piracy.

And what a fantastic occupation it was. They were rather good at it in fact, managing to clear out every ship they saw and building a large sum of money. But when was it ever about the money? Well. Always, actually. It was quite a laugh, jumping from place to place with their ever-constant _Carina_ keeping them grounded. The Captain enjoyed it immensely. The feeling of having _the Carina _and a group of motley assassins and idiots to his name was like no other. He couldn't be happier. But there was something missing… something he had lost long ago. So long ago he couldn't even remember what it was exactly. But it left him feeling empty none the less.

The ship soon set out on the waves, heading god knows where. It didn't matter really, the sea was theirs to explore.


	2. Chapter 2

The days passed slowly, and not having anything to do was driving the Captain and his shipmates mad. His crew, the one which is mentioned so frequently in this story, consisted of Sailing Master and Navigator Clint Barton; sometimes refereed to (mostly by himself) as Hawk-eye. Very good at his job, he had not gotten them lost once. Well. Perhaps once. But in his opinion that didn't count because everyone was highly intoxicated. Not his fault.  
Also in the crew, there was the Boatswain Tony, in charge of repairs and adjustments to the ships engineering. Truly a genius, he can be trusted to keep the ship running and at her full potential. For most of the time, at least. And then there was the Doctor Banner, a seemingly quiet man that any would easily trust with their life. Without him to help when Bucky lost his arm, the Captain would surely be dead. And finally, in charge of artillery and weapons there was Thor. Bucky had never seen someone assemble a cannon as fast as he. Thor was very enthusiastic about his job indeed.  
"There, there!" Clint cried with excitement from the crow's nest that he never seemed to leave. "We've got one!"  
And so it was confirmed, there was ship cutting through the water not to far away. A ship that was, in fact, a part of the English Navy. Fantastic! They all scrambled to the deck, hoping to get a view of the boat. It wasn't that big, but it was obvious that there would be many soldiers on the ship that would need dealing with. How exciting! Bucky was waiting for a spotting like this for weeks.  
"Positions, everyone!" Bucky called, pointing and flailing his arms about. Thor went down to the gun port to fire a warning shot. The boom rang in the Captain's ears, and he knew it was time to raise their flag. Looking over to the enemy ship he saw that they had actually hit them instead of just warning them. Oops. Well, it didn't matter really. He could tell already that they weren't the type to surrender. Soldiers always stand their ground.  
The flag was raised.  
And a beautiful flag it was. Black, like most pirate flags, and in the center a skull. But what made it different from the rest was the red star in the center of the head. The Captain designed it himself. Naturally over the years Bucky managed to gain some attention, and thus he needed a trade mark. Most sea Captains now a days knew the flag already, which made things all the more interesting. To further his public image, Natasha thought that he should start wearing smeared black paint around his eyes, thinking it would make him look more deadly. The affect was very convincing.  
"Bruce you go join Thor in the brig. Tony, Natasha, Clint." He called with a smile. "You're coming with me." He waved a hand to beckon them over to the port of the ship, getting them ready to board the enemy. "Tony will you kindly stop the smiling? We could get killed today."  
"Sorry." Tony replied, but did nothing to stifle his grin.  
In seconds the naval ship was adjacent to their Carina. In a swift movement, almost entirely in sync, the Captain and crew had jumped over the small stretch of water that separated the ships, the foreign wood of the enemy's boat now underneath their feet.  
"Well, well, well." Bucky said mischievously, raising to his feet and drawing his sword. His voice was almost a comedic tone. "What do we have here?"


	3. Chapter 3

The looks on the sailor's faces were priceless.  
Sauntering across the deck, he stepped closer to the Englishmen. He couldn't help but grin. It was a bad defensive plan to just waltz on board, but oh, did he look good doing it. "Surrender your ship to us, or die." He added, thinking it only gentlemanly to go through the etiquette. "But I don't think I need to explain the concept of piracy to you lot, do I?"  
With that one of the men in blue uniform lunged at him with a sword. Without hesitation, Bucky blocked the hit and ran the cutlass through the man's center, brining him to the ground. Dead. In mere moments the sailors were in chaos, slicing this way and that, the sound of sword against sword ringing in their ears. But the crew of the Carina was prepared for this sort of thing, because hell, the did it everyday. Natasha, Clint, and Tony had no trouble taking out the majority of the crew to the tip of their blades, the experienced fighters they were. Out of the corner of his eye Bucky saw Natasha doing a running jump and flip, brining a poor man's head down to the floor with her thighs and plunging her sword into his back. Where she leaned to fight like that he had no idea. A few minutes later only a few of the English remained, and bodies clothed in blue uniform scattered the deck. Bucky's crew were barely scathed.  
Yet there was one man, a man that caught Bucky's attention. He was a tall and blonde, in very regal British uniform. Bucky could not see his face from where he was standing, but he could tell the man was certainly putting up a fight. The Captain had not yet got to combat with this mysterious man, but in a strange way he looked forward to it. As if he was drawn to him. But he could not think of such things now, not when he was slitting another man's throat with his cutlass. Natasha seemed to be taking care of the blonde officer herself, so Bucky wasn't going to be troubled with him. She had it covered.  
But he soon heard a sort of half-scream coming from his first mate, and he briskly turned around to see if she was alright. She was reeled over, and Bucky could see a gash across her eye. Rushing over to her to give his assistance, the blond turned around and swung his sword down above Bucky's head. Bringing his wooden arm up to block, Bucky managed not to get hit. But there was a big notch taken out of his oaken arm. "You're going to regret doing that." He replied cooly, before locking eyes with the naval officer. His eyes widened with surprise upon seeing the man's face. He's seen it before. Steve. Steve Rogers. Steve Grant Rogers. He knew that face anywhere.  
And he wasn't the only one who had that feeling.  
"Bucky?! I thought you were dead!" Steve declaimed at full volume, lowering his sword.  
"And I thought you were shorter."  
"Will someone care to tell me what's going on?" Natasha said, standing to her feet. There was blood dripping down her face and onto the wooden deck. Bucky and Steve barely noticed Natasha's interjection, far too busy with matters of their own.  
"Steve was um... and old friend of mine."  
"Emphasis on was." He spat, the pieces in his mind somehow fitting together. "You're a pirate!" He swung his hulking arm up, punching Bucky square in the face. The next thing heard is the sound of Bucky's jaw hitting the hard wooden floor.


End file.
